"our budget didn't get into this mess because we spent too much money on poor people! "

[bobbolink]

Jim Wallis continues: "And cutting programs that help the most vulnerable (which are among the most cost-effective and least costly public spending we have) isn't going to get us out of financial trouble, or reduce the deficit in ways that we now need. Excessive deficits are indeed a moral issue and they place crushing burdens on our children and grandchildren. But how we reduce the deficit is also a moral issue."

For every federal dollar spent on food stamps, $1.84 is returned to the local economy.

Subsidized housing brings in MILLIONS to the local economy, AND creates jobs.

Yet, the proposed cuts to low-income housing, to food stamps, to school lunch programs and Head Start, to heating cost for poor people are being ignored. These cuts Will go through, because there is not an outcry from people like all of us... people who claim to care about others.

There are only two weeks to make your voice heard!

Get this out by Twitter and Facebook, speak to every one you know to put a stop to these cuts.

We poor people are NOT responsible for the budget mess.... don't make us take the brunt of the hits.

[Bluerthanblue]

1. so true! K&R

:hi:

[bobbolink]

2. Thanks! Please raise your voice! Please call progressive media, friends and everyone

you can think of and lets get attention to this, and protests registered with Congress!

[RKP5637]

3. K&R !!! n/t

[bobbolink]

5. Thanks! I am begging you... please call in to progressive radio shows about this.

Please write LTTEs, please Facebook this, and get it out in everyway you can think of!

Peoples' lives literally depend on this!

[grasswire]

4. do you have a link for that quote from Wallace?

I'd like to know when and where he said that. I know that his organization sponsored a conference call for clergy in the last few days, and that Elizabeth Warren spoke to them.

[bobbolink]

6. It is an email, and I am sending you the text, as there isn't alink for it.

MODS... SOJO WANTS us to share this, so this is not a copyright infringement.

Can an Orange Bracelet Turn Hearts in Washington?

In a credit to both Republicans and Democrats, Congress just passed a measure that will avoid a government shutdown for at least the next two weeks. This means that there is still time to protect the poor and most vulnerable during the budget debate.

Sojourners' supporters and partners placed a full-page ad in Monday's Politico entitled, "What Would Jesus Cut?" (http://blog.sojo.net/2011/02/28/sojourners-supporters-and-partners-challenge-congress-on-budget-cuts/)which was signed by 28 leaders of churches and faith-based organizations across the theological and political spectrum. It created quite a stir. The ad's purpose was to ask our legislators to defend critical and effective programs that save the lives of thousands of children every day and help low-income people survive -- the same programs that were created with bipartisan support in the past. Tough choices are upon us, but faith leaders are saying that abandoning the most vulnerable should not be among our choices. The ad reminds us that a budget is a moral document, (https://secure3.convio.net/sojo/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=387&JServSessionIdr004=p6kw459th1.app333b) revealing our priorities and choices. And it reminds us that Jesus says in Matthew 25 that we will be judged by how we treat "the least of these." As a result of this ad, a discussion about what budget priorities might please or sadden Jesus has now been raised on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, The Washington Post, USA Today, and many national and local radio shows. It has also exploded across Facebook and Twitter.

This week, I have reminded television and radio talk show hosts that our budget didn't get into this mess because we spent too much money on poor people! And cutting programs that help the most vulnerable (which are among the most cost-effective and least costly public spending we have) isn't going to get us out of financial trouble, or reduce the deficit in ways that we now need. Excessive deficits are indeed a moral issue and they place crushing burdens on our children and grandchildren. But how we reduce the deficit is also a moral issue.

But, of course, I have been asked, "Okay then, what would you cut?" This debate has reminded me of the famous statement by bank robber Willie Sutton. When asked why he robbed banks, he famously replied, "Because that's where the money is." If we really want to reduce the deficit, we also have to go where the real money is: our massive military spending, corporate welfare subsides to big businesses, and corporate tax loopholes, as well as the long term costs of health care and Social Security, which will require important future reforms. On a television program yesterday evening, I said that I want those who now propose major cuts to critical low-income family support programs to say, out loud, that every item of Pentagon spending is more important to our well-being and security than school lunches, child health, and early education programs.

Our good partner, Bread for the World, has made a list of the top 10 cuts that would hurt poor and hungry people at home and abroad. The total amount of those cuts is $5.177 billion. Let's do the numbers. For President Obama's "surge" in Afghanistan we sent more than an additional 30,000 troops. The estimated cost of keeping one soldier in Afghanistan for one year is now $1 million. Preserving the funding for the top 10 cuts that would most hurt poor and hungry people would cost about as much as 5,000 troops in Afghanistan. This is the simple math. Bring 5,000 troops home from Afghanistan and save funding for Head Start; the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program; the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition assistance program; Hunger Free Communities Grants; McGovern-Dole food aid programs; the Development Assistance Account; the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; the Global Health and Child Survival Account; the Millennium Challenge Account; and the Peace Corps.

Most of these programs have enjoyed significant bipartisan support in the past because they are both cost-effective and literally save the lives of children and families. Of course, the Bible doesn't mandate specific programs or prescribe a specific level of funding for any of them. And, we haven't been trying to get Jesus to be the head of any budget committee, or think that he would ever want that job! The ad was made to simply make a point about our faith and our values. Since Jesus is concerned about our action (and our inaction) when it comes to the poor, we should also be concerned. If these programs were being reformed to be more effective or replaced with better strategies to help the poor, that would be another issue; instead, they are just being slashed. Because our biblical values demand that we both serve and defend the poor, we want to make sure that legislators consider how their actions will impact the most vulnerable people. This is part of our vocation as people of faith.

Thanks to all of you, next week, orange WWJC? (https://secure3.convio.net/sojo/site/Donation2?idb=985031975&df_id=2280&2280.donation=form1) bracelets will be delivered to every member of Congress, and they will be invited to wear the bracelets when they vote on the budget. This is no longer just an ad; it's a campaign.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs at www.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.

+Click here to get email updates from Jim Wallis
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.subscribe&source=web_blog_content

[PA Democrat]

15. Check this link from Sojourners.

http://blog.sojo.net/2011/03/03/can-an-orange-bracelet-turn-hearts-in-washington/

[hootinholler]

42. Thank you for that link!

Seriously, I appreciate it.

-Hoot

[bobbolink]

44. That is a good link, but it is just part of it. I answered your question with the whole email,

which also contains other links.

I hope you find them helpful.

Thanks! :yourock:

[handmade34]

7. rec

Howard Dean said this on CNBC tonight... problem is lawmakers know this and go ahead and distort the truth anyways

[bobbolink]

9. Then it is up to us to undistort it!

Standing by and letting these cuts happen literally mean life and death to the people involved.

[leftstreet]

8. K&R

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. kick!!

[bobbolink]

12. Thanks! Please shout this from the rooftops... including at your church!

The only way this is going to be stopped is to get a lot of voices LOUDLY protesting!

:hug:

[Luminous Animal]

11. And while everyone is freaking out about the middle class, the poor are driven

farther into the dirt.

[bobbolink]

16. Thank you for naming the elephant in the room!

IN the last two weeks, we now know that middleclass people CAn speak up and take action, WHEN they decide it is important.

Clearly, poor people are NOT important, and now we know that without a doubt.

THIS is the true class war!

Are middleclass people finally going to step up?

[Tsiyu]

13. Kick and rec

No MyFace or Twitter here, but I have already been making calls and sending e-mails.

Hope everyone will join the effort

Thanks for this thread bobbie

:kick:

[bobbolink]

17. Thank you for every bit of effort you can put into this! I am hearing from so many poor people

who are totally discouraged, and giving up, because they see all the energy and words going to the middleclass, and they/we are totally ignored.

There will be deaths just from people giving up because of being ignored! :grr:

[libmom74]

23. This is from the US Uncut website

"Obama seeks to trim $1.1 trillion from the budget in the next ten years by cutting or eliminating over 200 federal programs, many dedicated to social services and education. For instance, it cuts in half funding to subsidize heating for low-income Americans; limits an expansion of the Pell grant program for students; and decreases Environmental Protection Agency funding by over 12%.

Meanwhile, Republicans are using their new House majority to slash spending even more brutally. The GOP has made it clear that they are bent on raiding funds for Social Security, Medicare, education; determined to kill health care reform; and gut needed investments in infrastructure, climate change and job creation, at a time when America needs it most.

These cuts will come on top of very painful austerity measures made at the state-level across our nation–-worth hundreds of billions--since the recession began.

In short, budget cuts demonstrate that Washington has abandoned ordinary Americans.

But there is an alternative: Make corporate tax avoiders pay.

Enjoying record profits and taxpayer-funded bailouts as the economy slowly recovers from a financial crisis, nearly two-thirds of US corporations don't pay any income taxes, instead opting to abuse tax loopholes and offshore tax havens. According to this study from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, 83 of the top 100 publicly traded corporations that operate in the US exploit corporate tax havens. Since 2009, America’s most profitable companies such as ExxonMobil, General Electric, Bank of America and Citigroup all paid a grand total of $0 in federal income taxes to Uncle Sam. Tax havens alone account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade, money that could be invested in K-12 education, colleges, public health, job creation and hundreds of other worthy public programs."


I have been trying to encourge as many people as possible to visit their site and join the fight. usuncut.org

[bobbolink]

24. Thank you for your efforts, and please also make this an OP. While the corporate aspect is

important, what is being ignored now is that all the attention is going to the middleclass, and it is poor people who will suffer and DIE from these cuts!

[libmom74]

30. You are right about there not being enough focus being put on

poverty in this country, I think one of the reasons is that people don't like to admit that they are one serious illness or pink slip away from becoming homeless themselves. One of the things I really like about Uncut is that it is a decentralized grassroots movement that contrasts the unfairness of our spending priorities such as bailouts and tax breaks for millionaires/billionaires and huge corporations and allowing them to evade taxes by using loopholes and tax havens with slashing State and Federal programs that help the most vulnerable in our society (WIC programs, foodstamps, LIHEAP etc..) and cutting important services like Fire, Police, EMS and Education funding as well as slashing pay and benefits for public employees. It is all tied together which unfortunately is a story that people aren't hearing from Washington DC or from the MSM, that there is another way to fix the deficit (which is all we hear about now since Democrats always allow Republicans to control the message as well as frame the issues). When I saw an article on UK Uncut and several weeks ago and then found the US group that was just starting out here I was really excited because I think its something that people can relate to as far as creating a narrative, for example Bank of America paid $0 in taxes last year but got back $2.3B in tax benefits which is nearly enough to cover the proposed cuts to LIHEAP. Anyway I will try and write an OP about this at some point, I don't feel like I'm a very good writer so I don't post very much. I really like to read your posts, it's great to see such a passionate advocate for the homeless, it is often an issue which is overlooked or swept aside, I consider our treatment of the homeless in this country a national disgrace.

[OneGrassRoot]

41. Me, too. I think that group is helping us make some headway about this. :) n/t

[Tsiyu]

26. There are already deaths from giving up unfortunately

we need to all be in this together, you are correct about that

Kicking again :kick:

[mia]

92. From a middle class perspective

we'll all be poor together. I'm stepping with full knowledge of the outcome.

[WillyT]

14. K & R !!!

:kick:

[bobbolink]

20. Thanks Willy T! Get out your megaphone and spread this loudly!

[Lifelong Protester]

18. K & R, spread on Facebook, will write to my Congressman

also. I liked the look of Jim Wallis' site, and have bookmarked that.

We are sure in a sorry, sorry state of affairs here. I feel nothing but empathy and compassion for those who do, and will, suffer under this unjust budget.

[bobbolink]

21. Thank you! I appreciate that so much! Those of us who are poor are really suffering...

not only from being poor, but from knowing that we are NOT important, and being reminded everyday that it is only the protests for the middleclass that get attention.

That hurts deeply.

Thank you for taking this seriously, and I think you will find that Wallis is a reliable voice for poor folk!

:yourock:

[Bluebear]

19. KICK - make your voice be heard for those who are the ignored voices.

[bobbolink]

22. Thanks, friend! We badly need your voice, and we will also speak for you!

:hug:

[FeelingBlue]

25. The voice of one

moral leader. I always appreciate hearing from Jim Wallis. Bless this man.

[Tsiyu]

27. kick

Just go for it, DUers.

What else do we have but our voices and our words?

Write, call, speak about this.

Keep it at the top of your thoughts

:kick:

[Lifelong Protester]

28. giving this another kick

the moral compass of this country is BROKEN! We have strayed so off course, to such an inhumane way of looking at things, especially the ways we look at the most vulnerable.

[Tsiyu]

29. Get pissed off , people

For FSM's sake, get mad for a change.

Stop thinking your apathy is going to do anything to help anyone.

Stop sitting silently wishing you could do something, but being too afraid to speak out.



I call people all the time, and I raise holy hell. I shame, I berate, I demand accountability.

I never go on about the calls here cuz I don't want to give myself away, but damn I give them hell.

And no one is dragging me off by my hair or stalking me (as I know of. If you are, lotsa luck lol :evilgrin: )

We deserve more for ourselves and for every poor and working class person. The cuts affect us all, one way or the other.

Have some self respect and stand up for yourselves.

You'll feel better. I swear you will.

Stop living in fear and stand up for your fellow Americans.


:kick:

[bobbolink]

49. A resounding AMEN! to all you have written! People WOULD feel better if they took action, and

did all they could do to stop these cuts!

We really can't feel good about ourselves when we know we are ignoring and letting down the most vulnerable among us.

As you know, I *have* been stalked, and I *have* had death threats because of speaking out on poverty, but so be it. There is a lot of ugliness, but hiding and keeping quiet won't change one damned thing, and the threat of stalking will always be there.

Thank you for reminding us all that this IS important, and that we really aren't helpless.. there is much we can do, and the time is NOW. The cuts come to a vote again in less than two weeks, and we all have responsibility for the outcome.

[WVRICK13]

31. I Am Already Very Active

Facebooking like 25 posts and links a day with comments. Writing and calling Congresspeople, encouraging everyone I know to call. Are there any public protests I can attend? We have to stop this insanity and stop it now. Poor;y placed priorities are the reason for the deficit. When we spend more to kill people and destroy countries than we spend to feed and keep people warm we are terribly misguided.

[bobbolink]

43. Thanks for all that you do -- you are a gem! As for the protests.... those are ALL for middleclass

people! I will say it again... they have shown that they ARE capable having enough spine to stand up for what they believe and make enough noise to be heard! They have shown without a doubt that they can and WILL do this.

The problem is, they aren't willing to do this for anyone besides themselves, and so many poor people are NOT ABLE to do it alone.

So, that leaves two things... how do we organize protests that will be large enough and organized enough and noisy enough to get attention to this? How do we get places like Ian's to send pizzas to POOR PEOPLE who can't give up eating in order to do this?

The second thing is, and so many of you don't WANT to look at this.... it is our OWN "progressive" media that ignores us! How do we get enough of us together to pressure the Rachels and the Amys and the Hartmann's to give AS MUCH attention to POVERTY as they do to the middleclass? They are totally ignoring us, and THAT is the class war, right there!

There are a few people like you who are already doing a lot. Somehow, it hasn't been effective because the politicians don't care, and we aren't reaching the choir. We need to figure out how to switch tactics.

I repeat... you are a gem! :yourock:

[maryf]

32. Huge K&R

Thanks for being a constant advocate! :fistbump:

[blindpig]

33. Ain't that the truth.

Nonetheless it will be the poor who suffer most when the bills of the rich are presented to the rest of us.

[OneGrassRoot]

34. Huge K&R. Will share right now. n/t

[Dragonfli]

35. Where are our Democratic representatives in all this? I am sure they know the pain and death it will

cause.

I have a theory that once someone reaches a point where they will never go hungry they go out of their way to inflict misery on the most vulnerable.

I have been trying to reach my representatives and find that they agree with the Republicans that this sacrifice to the alter of greed must be made and the blood of choice on this alter are the elderly, the poor and the disabled (Some of which are dying of the diseases that are disabling them.

How can there be any excuse for this? there is much much more money in the tax shelters of the insanely rich to avoid killing poor people, but they will not go there. There is no reason for this that makes any sense, do we have a president at all? does he care for anything other than the chamber of commerce that he has been dating?

How can we reach these sociopaths that claim to represent all of us when the obvious truth is just something for them to laugh off as they count their money?

It is time to wake up to the fact that genocide is the logical step in their pretending to reduce a debt that was competely engineered by unnecessary, very large tax cuts for those that profit in the billions over our suffering, it is time to wake up to the fact that those we elect are in complicit agreement in this shameful "culling of the herd".

The rich as always are rewarded rather than asked to share what they steal from the rest of us.

I can not get a straight answer from my Reps or my president, just outright lies such as "SS is destroying the budget" - a neat trick considering it is running a surplus in the trillions and has nothing at all to do with the budget.

Can anyone here get an answer as to why they are so blatantly destroying the poor even as they further enrich the rich?
Lord knows I can't.

[CrispyQ]

37. An excellent post.

You nailed it when you called them sociopaths.

It is time to wake up to the fact that genocide is the logical step in their pretending to reduce a debt that was competely engineered by unnecessary, very large tax cuts for those that profit in the billions over our suffering, it is time to wake up to the fact that those we elect are in complicit agreement in this shameful "culling of the herd".

[bobbolink]

47. To be very simple and blunt about it, they are NOT HEARING from their constituents that this is

important.

Poverty has been dropped by the Dems, and I don't mean just the politicians... I mean party members, DUers, people who listen to the likes of Rachel and Amy and Hartmann, etc.

They simply aren't interested.

Suffering and deaths don't matter.

Is that blunt enough?

[Dragonfli]

52. I think you are correct, our society is largely sociopathic and the good posters here care little

about someone dying for the rich, or dying from their apathy to it.

And I prefer blunt to bullshit any day.

[bobbolink]

55. Some of us are in the position where we can't AFFORD to kid ourselves anymore about the

reality.

And that reality is that the middleclass, for the most part, would sell us down the river if it would benefit them.

Short of that, they will just ignore us, and the suffering and deaths be hanged.

It has been a horrible process for me to see the truth of that, and it has made me sick, as it has you and other poor people.

:hug:

[raccoon]

36. REc'd.

:yourock:

[Uncle Joe]

38. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bobbolink.

[fascisthunter]

39. kick and recommend! (nt)

[DirkGently]

40. Mistakes were made. Others will be blamed. "Resources were looted. Victims will pay restitution."

[bobbolink]

103. Yes, the victims are the ones who get the demand to "sacrifice"

When soldiers sacrifice their lives, they are called heroes.

When poor people sacrifice and it costs them their lives, they are.......ignored.

[mike_c]

45. K & R, and a big welcome back, bobbolink!

Good to see you posting again. I trust all is well?

[bobbolink]

58. Thanks, Mike, and thanks for your steadfast support of poverty issues!

All of this is coming to the real breaking point, and we need ALL of you to help us!

[Blue Owl]

46. K&R

:kick:

[Starry Messenger]

48. k&r

Great thread bobbolink, thank you.

[Tsiyu]

50. Kickety Kick

kick kick :kick:

[joeybee12]

51. KNR!!!!

[bobbolink]

59. Thanks!

Now, please help us, in the less than two weeks that we have, to get these cuts STOPPED!

Literally, lives depend on this!

[Liberal_in_LA]

53. k&r

[TheKentuckian]

54. Great thread. What is it with folks not getting that we are all in the same boat?

Middle class ain't nothing but broke with a paycheck and a little cushion.

[bobbolink]

56. That's it exactly, and yet they can go all out for protests about the middleclass, but

can't raise a finger about cuts to poverty programs.

But the fact is, the WHY of it doesn't matter.... what matters is getting these cuts STOPPED!

[Vinca]

57. I guess we "little people" should be grateful. If the GOP had a chance,

they'd send us all free euthanasia pills.

[Hannah Bell]

60. kr

[stillwaiting]

61. K & R

Ain't that the damn truth!

[foxfeet]

62. K&R

[blackspade]

63. The notion that we spend too much money on the poor...

Is a bald faced lie.
The government doesn't spend crap on the poor and needy in this country compared to the free handouts and tax breaks that they give the rich and corporations.

[VoteProgressive]

64. Great comment!

[RegieRocker]

65. Deeeamn that is good . Might I add it wasn't from paying workers too

much money either or union workers. What was hurting auto manufacturers big time was health insurance costs. Aside from the obvious thievery and blatant lies by wall street war has cost us plenty.

[bobbolink]

73. I am concentrating on poverty, because it is always poor people who are ignored.

NOw all the attention is on unions, and the union members ARE NOT using any of the attention to focus on poor people, and until they do, we are on our own, and there is NO solidarity, so I am not supporting their effort.

SAd, but that is what comes of ignoring people who are considered lower than low.

The result is suffering and DEATH, and it is time for those lives of poor people to be valued enough that people want to stop MORE DEATHS.

It is as simple as that. And as one poster above mentioned, there are already suicides because poor people are in impossible situations, and since Madison, see clearly that we will continue to be ignored. DEATH.

[Raksha]

66. I just had a phone conversation with my daughter

who lives in the SF Bay area. She was at a protest against the budget cuts last weekend at the San Francisco state house. She said it was a very moving experience because there were people in wheelchairs, and blind and deaf and other disabled people. These are all people who are living so close to the edge already that more budget cuts could LITERALLY kill them--and they know it. And all of them had acquaintances who wanted to be there but were simply too frail to make it to the demonstration.

My daughter was one of the veteran activists who chose to get arrested, and not for the first time. And even though the cops really didn't want to arrest them. One very revealing and poignant story she told me...

Another of their group was a deaf lady who also chose to get arrested. But the cops couldn't take her information or convey a Miranda warning (if they still do that) because not a single cop present could use American sign language. And why not?

Because. Of. Budget. Cuts.

[defendandprotect]

75. Sadly fascinating ....

Never knew until long time later that thousands of disabled committed suicide

after Reagan's cuts!!


:scared:

[bobbolink]

78. YEs, indeed! 417,000 were cut off, with no alternatives.

I had a friend who was a paralegal at the local Legal Aid, and she said the morale was in the basement. Every day they came into work, to find out who had killed themselves the day before, and There Was Nothing They Could Do ABout IT.

ANd, nobody really cared.

The same thing is happening now... where is the outrage>

Where is the concern?

What does it TAKE??!!

[defendandprotect]

93. OMG !! Maybe we are mean-spirited Americans lacking compassion?

But without doubt, we need to reverse this and the damage it has done ....

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

[bobbolink]

94. Reverse it? Yes, indeed, but of course, those lives lost can't be brought back.

As I watch Ghadafi killing his people, I think... "What a monster!"

Yet, is it that much better when a nation, and a rich nation at that, ignores its poor people until they are in the position where they can no longer survive, and have to TAKE THEIR OWN LIVES?

Yes, that is what kind of a nation we are... not out right KILLING our citizens, but making them Kill Themselves.

[bobbolink]

77. Will you please hug and thank your daughter for me?!

Does she say what coverage they got in the news?

Does she say why protests like this aren't larger, and in more areas of the country?

YEs, we know we will die with more cuts, but it simply isn't important to the party, to most middleclass people, or even, sadly, to DUers.

Look at the attention to this, and the attention to the unions. No proportionality at all.

Please thank her for me. :yourock: The people she met there are the lives we need to save!

[Raksha]

98. Well, my daughter is in Northern California and I'm in SoCal,

and I won't be seeing her until next week, but when I see her I'll definitely hug her for you (and me). I told her I was going to write up a brief summary of what she said for DU, and send her the link when I did. She told me she was thinking about writing about the protest on her blog, and if she does I'll send you the link or post it here in GD.

She was pretty disappointed in the media coverage, which I believe was either very poor or nonexistent. But then that's SOP for liberal causes (especially anything related to poverty) and she knows it as well as I do. You know, "if it didn't happen on CNN, it didn't happen."

I'm going to check now to see if she posted any pictures of the demonstration on her Facebook page. I still can't get over how casually she said, "Oh yeah...I got arrested" like it was no big deal. I guess it was no big deal compared with RNC 2008, when her fiance got tasered so badly he could have died, and both of them got arrested.

That's a story for a whole other post, though.

[Raksha]

101. Self-delete

[cate94]

67. K & R

I'm not on Facebook, but I'll send it out to as many people I can.

[DesertDiamond]

68. bobbolink, I don't see a share button. Do I have your permission to copy and paste to Facebook?

[bobbolink]

71. Thank you for asking such an important question, and thank you so much for doing the work to share

this!

I don't have any qualifications to give any permission, but I think if you go to the website, you may even see a button for that.

Did you look at my post where I copied verbatim the wording of the email, and gave the links that were in it?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=553367&mesg_id=553515

I hope that helps. IF not, PM me, and I will try to answer.

I guess the other possibility is to subscribe to his emails, and use them to pass around.

Thanks so much! :yourock:

[bobbolink]

76. This is the link to the ad that Sojo placed in Politico:

http://blog.sojo.net/2011/02/28/sojourners-supporters-and-partners-challenge-congress-on-budget-cuts/#

If I am reading this correctly, this is what Wallis is saying "exploded on twitter and Facebook".

I hope this helps!

Thanks so much for doing this! :yourock:

[dajoki]

69. K&R

You are so right, but we are without a voice, we are not seen or heard. I would love to think that we can get big and loud enough to make a difference.

[upi402]

70. "We have to look at entitlements"

Bullshit.
Trade law, tax the rich, end the wars, jobs programs, eliminate FICA cap. Done.

[bobbolink]

79. So, push this with all the media..... Rachel, Hartmann, etc.

Schultz is hopeless, but push the rest!! We are ignored, and that must not stand!

[madmax]

72. K&R

[defendandprotect]

74. EXACTLY ... !!! Keep on tellin' it -- !!

:)

:applause:

[cynzke]

80. Remember!

Remember the weeks leading up to the start of the Iraq war? Millions of people around the world marched in protest. A majority of Americans were against going to war. Did that stop Bush (with support from Republicans and Democrats)? No! This is the GOP agenda and they are intent on carrying it out regardless the size of the opposition. They don't care! We don't scare them! Next election our only solution!

[bobbolink]

91. So, you think the Wisconsin protests are useless, and they should just give up and let the Gov run

over them?

You think the people in Wisconsin should just be quiet and wait until the next election?

Or is that only poor people you think should be quiet and wait?

Because, you DO know... the Wisconsin people who are fighting now won't die.... they will be worse off, but they won't die of it.

Poor people will. Telling us to be quiet and wait is telling us that its OK with you that some of us will die.

[humbled_opinion]

81. The only way to stop this is for a leader to emerge....

a leader that can communicate to the public and explain exactly what we need and what we don't and how we get there from here...

If a Democrat does not step into this leadership vacuum and lead then you can bet your sweet ass a Republican will and we will get exactly what they force on us because in case you hadn't noticed, they don't bargain.

[bobbolink]

100. Then millions will die, because there is no leader on the horizon. WE ARE ALL THE LEADERS.

It truly is up to us, and we can do this.

Just like the workers in Wisconsin took the reins and didn't wait for a leader.

Just like the Egyptians said "Enough!" and didn't wait for a leader.

Just like the Libyans said, "No more!" and took over the collective leadership.

Just like them, that is what we must do.

And we can.

[Brigid]

82. Doesn't the title for this thread say it all?

But it would never do for our corporate overlords to acknowledge that truth, now would it?

[EstimatedProphet]

83. Unfortunately, there's too many people that think that is exactly what happened

They think that the only legitimate use for government is to attack furriners and police people other than themselves.

[PufPuf23]

84. k&r without reading for simplicity and capital "T" Truth. nt

[democrank]

85. K & R

[Enthusiast]

86. We must remember one thing;

Republicans hate poor people.

[girl gone mad]

87. k & r

:hug:

[louslobbs]

88. Bobbolink, my family and I believed we were doing everything we could to help the impoverished

in our community, your post reminds me that this is a national issue as well. All of us will have to do more to sound the alert, voice our concerns and take to the streets if that is what it takes. Thank you for keeping us on our toes and reminding us to fight for what is right by taking a stand for those who feel as though they have no voice and in some cases, have lost all hope. Lots of respect and love.
Lou

[bobbolink]

99. Lou, your words mean so much! Thank you, and we need your help!

I am still sick... too much mucus on the brain, and want to communicate further.

If I forget, please PM me... because your willingness is so important to me.

Thanks for lifting my spirits... it means a lot to me! :yourock:

[jwirr]

89. Of course not but there has almost never been a time when the country

hasn't let us take the blame. But you and I both know there is no US. Each of us has our own story to tell and that makes a whole lot of people not to blame for the circumstances they find themselves in. I think you are disabled and homeless if I have read correctly. I spent my entire adult life working minimum wage part time jobs while I took care of my disabled daughter in our home instead of an institution. Then there is the lady in the apartment above me - her husband walked out on her leaving her with 3 children. The stories are never heard by the voters. They think they are justified because everyone tells their favorite story about the deadbeat. Or at least the story they think is the truth.

I admire your fight to change this.

[underpants]

90. Please see my sig line for the last 8 years or so

[Mojeoux]

95. What a great Quote Bobo!!!!!!!!

I'm sharing this!

[bobbolink]

102. Yes, please do, and please get as many as you can to write and call.

Lives literally depend on it!

WE have some plans afoot... if I forget to clue you in, please PM me.

Thanks!

[fittosurvive]

96. Of course it didn't . We are in this mess because we expect the people we elect

to "bring home the bacon" that they stole from the future.

[maryf]

97. evening kick!

thanks again Bobbie! :applause: